Great Whites from North & South America

When it hits 100 degrees, there’s nothing better than a quick swim in the ocean. But if you’ve seen Shark Week or the movie JAWS one too many times you may prefer to keep your feet on the shore. If so, you’re more likely to choose your seafood plated, or in a summer salad.

This feels refreshing but has a little extra depth going for it, with peach, melon and vague hints of mint and cream lurking behind the fruit. Remains expressive on the deftly balanced finish. Drink now through 2010. 142 cases made. –HS

Priced at $32.00 it’s worth every penny.

California – St. Supery Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc

To pair with my Ahi Tuna Salad at Smith & Wollensky, I chose a 2007 Sauvignon Blanc from St. Supery, host of last week’s Twitter Taste Live! (TTL) and new employer of twitter extraordinaire Rick Bakas, recently hired to be their new Director of Social Media.

St. Supery’s Sauvignon Blanc is crisp and delightful, pairing well with the pepper-crusted ahi tuna sitting atop a bed of arugula, radicchio, friseé, red onion and Greek olives, mixed with flavors of fennel, oranges and capers. Featuring aromas of ruby grapefruit, nectarine and a shaded minerality, the palate is bright with lime juice, honeydew melon and a touch of pineapple.

I was also pleased to see St. Supery’s Virtu on the menu, although it was available only by the bottle. Another TTL selection, we enjoyed this white meritage during Saturday’s Twitter Taste Live. Smooth and creamy, this blend of 48% Semillion and 52% Sauvignon Blanc won the hearts and palates of the TTL crowd, and paired especially well with a lightly warmed brie topped with cherry pecan preserves from The Great San Saba River Pecan Company (San Saba, Texas), and the Parmesan sesame crisps Joe made especially for the event.

Says St. Supery about this wine: “The concept is to create the best blend of the vintage using only bordeaux grape varietals, so the blend changes annually along with the commissioned “saint” artwork on the label.

St. Supery Virtu is priced at $28.00 and just $22.40 for Wine Club members.

Vina Los Vascos 2008 Sauvignon Blanc

Los Vascos is the Chilean outpost of Domaines Barons de Rothschild-Lafite, famously known for its fabulous Grand Crus de Bordeaux. Baron Philippe de Rothschild (1902–1988) was a member of the Rothschild banking dynasty who became a Grand Prix race-car driver, a screenwriter and playwright, a theatrical producer, a film producer, a poet, and one of the most successful wine growers in the world. At the outbreak of World War I, 12-year-old Philippe was sent to the safety of the family’s vineyard in the village of Pauillac in the Médoc. There he developed a love of the country and the wine business, a family enterprise since 1853, but one in which his father and grandfather had shown little interest. After achieving the 1973 upgrading of Chateau Mouton Rothschild to Premier Cru status, and after the historic results of the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, Phillipe began looking beyond France for wine-growing opportunities. Following a joint venture with Robert Mondavi in 1980 to form California’s Opus One Winery, Rothschild’s daughter Philippine, teamed up with Concha y Toro of Chile to produce a Cabernet Sauvignon based, Bordeaux-style red wine in a new winery built in Chile’s Maipo Valley, the Almaviva.

The Sauvignon Blanc made at Los Vascos comes from grapes purchased on long term contracts from both the Casablanca and Curicó areas. Joe paired this with flounder poached in extra virgin olive oil, wilted spinach with caramelized onions and panko-encrusted summer vegetables.

This Sauvignon Blanc was not typical of the overly grassy, pipi du chat forward wines evident in many from New Zealand. I got a nutty, fresh green and floral aroma on the palate, that the tasting notes describe as “clear with nice green reflections.” Joe noted lemongrass, lemon and orange peel with a whiff of ginger on the nose in this straw-colored beauty. With mild lemon, lemongrass and lemon oil, mild florals and slightly honeyed with a hint of grapefruit on the palate, certainly not your standard Sauvignon Blanc.

An amazing value wine with a suggested retail price of only $11.49 per 750 ml bottle.

Most wine connoisseurs are often hesitant to recommend Sauvignon Blanc, because of its reputation for aromas that favor Sylvester or Toonces playing in the sandbox. If all SBs could taste like St. Supery’s Sauvignon Blanc and Virtu, and Los Vascos’ Sauvignon Blanc, we’d bet they’d change their tunes.

And there you have it, great white wines from North and South America, with no need to worry about sharks!

Cheers!

~ Amy Corron Power,
aka WineWonkette

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A licensed attorney, Amy is a wine-lover, foodie, photographer, political junkie and award-winning author who writes about Wine, Food, Beer & Spirits. As Managing Editor & Tasting Director for Another Wine Blog, she travels all over the world's wine regions to share her experiences with her readers and legions of twitter, Instagram and Facebook friends and fans. Amy holds certifications through the International Sommelier Guild, and is also certified, with honors, as a California Wine Appellation Specialist (CWAS). She is a member of the Guild of Sommeliers, The Wine & Food Foundation of Texas and regularly attends Houston Sommelier Association events.
Amy is also a contributor to the Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books, and was most recently published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Power of Gratitude.